According to Marcus Thompson of the Contra Costa Times, the Clippers have joined the NBA’s opening act, and will travel to Oakland to play the Warriors on Christmas Day:

I’ve been told by a couple sources the Warriors will be part of the Christmas Day lineup of games to kick off the 2011-12 season. Golden State will host Blake Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers at Oracle on Christmas Night, the fifth and final game on the NBA slate.

Obviously, things could change. But that’s what the planned schedule is now.

This is very exciting news, to be sure. But it might not even be the most interesting bit of the report!

Buried as the last sentence of the post, Clippers fans might find a second point from Thompson to be equally as noteworthy:

“If the Warriors’ land DeAndre Jordan, that game would be even more appealing.”